


Better

by K_booklover98



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-30 21:52:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15105581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/K_booklover98/pseuds/K_booklover98
Summary: Draco is feeling low, and Harry comes along to give him some reassurance.





	Better

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to challenge myself a bit. This is a lot more emotional than I usually tend to write. But, clearly, I just _can't_ write a sad ending, so I assure you, it does get better. Let me know what you think, I don't think it's _too_ sad/emotional, but idk, I've never written this type of thing before. I'm not even sure if I gave it all the appropriate tags. Anyways, I'm done rambling, I hope you enjoy.

Draco laid in bed, wide awake and thinking. He couldn’t stop tossing and turning, and he knew that at any moment now, Harry was going to wake up next to him and ask him what was wrong. It wasn’t like it was the nightmares keeping him awake, he was used to those. Honestly, he would have chosen that over this sudden case of insomnia. At least with nightmares, he was still guaranteed a _little_ bit of sleep.

He rolled over again, unable to get comfortable enough. He felt bad, as he was now in a tangled mess of blankets, leaving Harry to have to curl up in a ball on his side. Draco huffed, throwing the blankets back over himself, until both of them were covered again. He tried snuggling back into Harry’s side, but nothing was working. Draco was just about to roll back over when Harry blinked two bleary green eyes at him.

“Can’t sleep?” he asked, a bit groggily.

“That’s an understatement,” Draco grumbled.

“Bad dream?”

“No,”

“Wassthematter?” he slurred, rubbing at his eyes.

Draco sighed, now feeling even worse. “Nothing,”

“Can’t be nothing,” Harry said over a yawn. “Doesn’t look like nothing,” he said more clearly now. “Tell me,”

Draco looked away, not wanting to meet his gaze.

“Draco?”

“I don’t like to talk about it,” Draco huffed.

Harry frowned. “Talk about what?”

“The war, my nightmares, any of it,” Draco said, twisting his hand in the sheets, anything to distract him from having this conversation. “I hate thinking about it, I hate even acknowledging that any of it happened.”

Harry sighed, sitting up a bit to face Draco fully. “I know,”

“It’s just so hard,” Draco continued on. “Sometimes I think I’m going to wake up any minute now back in fourth year, before everything turned to shit,”

Harry nodded. “Yeah, I get that feeling sometimes too,”

“But then it never happens!” he said, starting to become frustrated. “I wake up, and I’m here, and it’s after the fact, but I still feel miserable, like it’s still happening. Like it’s not over.”

Harry reached a hand over, running a hand over Draco’s cheek. “But it _is_ over. We won, remember?”

“Yeah, but at what cost?” Draco mumbled, turning his gaze over to his dark mark.

Harry slid his hand down, moving to trace is finger over the mark. Draco frowned, turning his gaze away.

“How can you stand to look at it?” Draco asked in disgust.

“It’s just a mark.”

“It’s not _just a mark_ , Potter, and I hate it,” he sneered. “I’d cut it off if I could,”

“You don’t mean that,”

“Yes I bloody well do!” he shouted. “It’s ugly and it represents everything I am. A complete and utter failure.”

“This,” Harry said just as forcefully, grabbing Draco’s arm. “Doesn’t define you,”

“But it’s a reminder of all of the things I just said. If I could wake up back in fourth year, then maybe none of this would have happened.”

“And what if you could go back? What if this was the only outcome?” Harry said. He knew first hand that going back in time wasn’t something one could easily accomplish, having experienced it first hand. “What if whatever happens happens, and you can’t change it, no matter how hard you want to?”

“You don’t get it,” Draco growled. “You’re the sodding Saviour, everything you do is perfect,” he sneered. “What would you even have to change?” he grumbled, looking away.

Harry reached a hand out, removing the blanket that was covering both of them, pulling it down until Draco’s chest was uncovered. He didn’t have on a shirt, and although it was dark, the moonlight streaming in through the window illuminated their bed, and the sectumsempra scars were just barely visible on Draco’s body.

Draco looked up to see the pain mirrored in Harry’s eyes, and instantly felt bad. “Harry, I—”

“You see these scars?” Harry said, tracing the white lines running across Draco’s chest, down to his abondom. “I regret these every single day. There isn’t one day that goes by where I don’t secretly _hate_ myself for doing such an unforgivable thing to you,”

“But I _do_ forgive you,” Draco said, laying a gentle hand against Harry’s cheek. “You didn’t mean it,”

“You could have died.”

“But I _didn’t_ ,” Draco said, kissing Harry. “I’m still here.”

Harry gave him a faint smile. “And you didn’t mean to do this,” he said, lowering his head to kiss Draco’s dark mark.

Draco shook his head. “That’s different,”

“Is it?” Harry asked.

Draco shook his head, but Harry could tell he was giving in. “These scars...they were an accident...you didn’t know,”

“Neither did you,”

“I knew what I was signing up for,”

“Did you really have a choice in the matter?”

“This is pointless,”

“You are not pointless,” Harry said sternly, cupping Draco’s face. “You are brilliant and resourceful, ambitions and _strong_. You are not pointless, and you most certainly are not a failure,”

“But I _feel_ like one,” Draco sobbed, trying not to let the tears falls, but his voice was beginning to crack and he just felt so weak.

“You are one of the bravest people I know,” Harry said, wiping away the beginnings of Draco’s tears. “You’ve come so far, you’ve changed and grown and have redefined yourself as a person.” he continued. “You’re not that scared sixteen year old boy anymore. You’re a strong and confident young man who I love more than anything in this lifetime,”

Draco sniffed. “I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve you,”

“You deserve the world, and so much more, and I’d give it all to you if I could,”

Draco gave in then, letting the tears flow freely as he tugged Harry closer. Harry sighed, wrapping his arms around Draco, soothing him as he petted his soft white blonde hair. Draco continued to sob as Harry placed soft kisses all over Draco’s face. “It’ll be alright love,”

Draco nodded, slowly pulling back to stare into Harry’s love filled eyes. “You make me want to be better,” he whispered, kissing his lips again.

Harry smiled, still running his hand through Draco’s hair, his other arm still wrapped tightly around the blond. “You _are_ better. You’re everything I could have ever wanted and more,”

Now Draco was starting to blush. “Shut up, Potter,” he murmured, burying his head in Harry’s neck, this time trying to hide his reddening face.

Harry chuckled, snuggling up with his partner. “I love you,”

“Bloody Gryffindor sap,”

“Say it isn’t true,”

Draco couldn’t hide his smirk as he kissed Harry’s neck. “You love everyone,”

“But I love you the most,”

Draco rolled his eyes, who cares if Harry couldn’t see him doing it, he still deserved it. “You're insufferable,"

Harry chuckled. “Say you love me, too,”

“Only Merlin knows why,”

“ _Draco,_ ” he whined.

“I love you too, you romantic fool,”

Harry continued to laugh, squeezing Draco tight. “I know,”

Draco sighed, closing his eyes and embracing Harry’s warmth. He finally began to feel sleep beginning to tug at him. “I do love you though,” he whispered, already half asleep.

“Hmm,” was Harry’s sleepy response.

Draco smiled, nuzzling Harry’s neck. “More than you’ll ever know,”


End file.
